Picking berries on one's own is a very silent activity. Here at La Ville au Roi much of the time there is no ambiant npoise whatsoever. With only the mantra rolling around my brain for company I set off to pick the first real takings. It is apparent
Read more…This morning we went to our neighbouring Buddhist group at Oasis. It is lovely to join our friends in a Buddhist ritual and then in refreshments and friendly talk afterwards. I gave a short talk about the fundamental Buddhist principles of sile, sama
Read more…Its been a good while since I have been here at Eleusis and in that time, as you can imagine, there have been a good many changes. Dharmavidya has faced the challenge of some quite serious medical problems that have kept him from travelling, as you w
Read more…Well, none of us could get onto the site yesterday. Was that because they were doing maintenance or was it the jinx of Friday 13? Who knows.
Nevertheless, we had a very nice day here. In the morning we went to Oasis where we had a service and I spoke
Read more…Here at La Ville au Roi (Eleusis) we are already on the third day of our Anshin Retreat. There has not been time to write Dailies or Daily teachings, but my talks here are being filmed and will appear eventually. Apart from the activities of the retr
Read more…This weekend has been a special meeting of the Amida Order here at La Ville au Roi (Eleusis). during the proceedings there has been a ceremony marking Elja's admission into postulancy which is a stage in her career within the Order. It was a moving a
Read more…Today is the end of my first week at Eleusis. Most of the last few mornings I have woken up with blocked sinuses and a headache. For the first couple of hours at least this has effected my visual focus as well as ability to concentrate. I am assuming
Read more…Damian's uncle Eddie passed away last week. As soon as I heard the news I asked Selena to say a prayer with me and so I instructed her to put her hands over her heart and I prayed that he be at peace. She didn't mention anything about this for a week
Read more…Retreat
It is interesting how things turn out. Elja is in Netherlands living in a community of women and I am here in France living in a community of men. We are all getting rather energised by the interest that is being shown in the Winter Retreat.
Read more…Jonah Outdoors
What a lovely day! It was our first day this year to eat breakfast outside. There had been a frost and there was still a chill in the air, but the sun was up and warming my back. As I ate my breakfast I saw rabbits venturing out of the
Skipping deer
The weather was really lovely today. Although it is still a bit chilly outside we can feel the strength of the sun. We have stopped making fires in the woodstove first thing in the morning. There are even hours of the day when it is muc
Read more…Well, it started with the shock of learning that Britain had voted to leave the EU. I really felt the shock of it. Being so often out of kilter with my fellow countrymen I perhaps shoudl have known, but the reality is something else.
Then we had a me
Read more…The more old Buddhist stories I hear, the more memories of Bible stories return, and these old stories are getting new meaning for me, influenced by Buddhist knowledge and new experience in life. Over the last couple of days, images of Jonah and the
Read more…Life in our little hermitage continues. Our guest left this morning. He later e-mailed to say that he had thoroughly enjoyed his stay. Something about the atmosphere, the welcome, the surroundings. Here we are ever on retreat. In the stressful world
Read more…This is the result of my day's work...
This poor lilac was completely smothering by nettle, sticky weed, thistles and a variety of other plants. It took a good while to clear out all the unwanted growth. Then I shredded a large pile of sticks and twi
I have spent much of today reading the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare which has been a pleasant thing to do, especially this morning sitting in the sunshine. Later it got a bit cooler and by the end of the day I was sitting inside by the f
Read more…I spent much of today on my own, some of it writing and some of it doing light work in the Aphrodite field. I walked across there at the end of a grey morning. At this time of year the path is full of tiny violets - an Aphrodite flower. As I entered
This morning I went to the library, in the center of Den Bosch to study Davids latest book (not published yet) about Genjo Koan. With the swiftness of a snail I read the mysterious words of Dogen and David. Next to my laptop, one Dutch translation of
Read more…Over the weekend we have been a community of three men and although our visitor is leaving tomorrow, Jnanamati arrives the day after so this format will continue until somebody else joins us.
I spent much of today clearing ground where we are going t
Read more…"It's nurse day," said Elja when we came to breakfast this morning.
"No it isn't," I said.
"Oh, you're right - it's only once a fortnight now!"
"That's right."
I now only have to have my blood tests once a fortnight - progress.
I got on with some mor
